N Carolina charter school seeks split from for-profit firm

May 13, 2019

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina’s statewide school board is deciding whether to approve an online charter school’s desire to break away from the for-profit company that helped it get off the ground.

The state Board of Education on Monday is expected to vote on whether to let North Carolina Connections Academy split from education company Pearson and become a locally run independent school.

Connections Academy and a second virtual charter managed by a different company opened in 2015. Both have received D grades for their academic performance for the past three years and are on the state’s list of “continually low-performing schools.”

The Connections Academy board wants to hire several vendors to provide the different services now offered by Pearson, which it pays $10 million per year.